Crossing My Training And Crossing My Fingers

Leisurely 25+ miles on the bike early this morning. Got a little lost. Iphone helped with that, though it would have helped more if I'd used the compass feature when I looked at my current location, because then I wouldn't have headed in the exact opposite direction. Oh, well. That turned my 20 into 25+, but it all felt good, so no problem. Took just about 2 hours on the button.

Ended up going to Newport yesterday. Everyone had a good time, so that's a win. Beautiful day for it. Whale watch this afternoon. Tomorrow's probably a beach day, then headed back early Saturday.

Hope to get one more run in tomorrow morning.

I got in my last run of the vacation trip (we leave early tomorrow) in a light rain this morning. It was a real nice 8 miler, and I was surprised how good I felt. Starting on Sunday, here is how my workouts list out:

Sunday: 12 miles on the bike
Monday: 8 mile run
Tuesday: 20 miles on the bike
Wednesday: 10 mile run
Thursday: 25 miles on the bike
Friday: 8 mile run

So, I think Saturday will be a rest day!

We went on a whale watch yesterday, and no whales showed up - apparently, they are also on vacation. The whale watch boat gave us all free passes for another whale watch cruise, so maybe we'll come back next year and use those.

Its supposed to clear up here and be a beautiful day. We've had great weather and a really nice family trip. Hopefully, my oldest shows up sometime soon from back home (he had to go back to attend some classes he is taking this summer). If not, my wife likely will kill him, which would be unfortunate...

I'll call today's run "16 Miles The Hard Way" - though maybe I should just call it a cross between swimming and jogging.

The forecast was for heavy rain last night, and clearing out this morning, at some point. I could hear it raining all night, and it was gently raining when I got out of bed a little after 6.

I was hoping it was tapering off, but I checked the weather on TV and the radar showed it was going to go on for a while, and some of it would be heavy. So I ate, drank coffee, read the paper, drank a bunch of water, did the jumble and half the cross word puzzle, checked some stuff on the internet and checked the weather again. It was getting close to 9, and I wanted to get this run in without going into the afternoon. I could see it was going to get warm and really muggy, and didn't relish the thought of running in that (again). It looked like the trailing edge of the rain was about to come through, so I got ready and left, and was up at the trail head atthe rail trail and ready to run at 9:30. As I got out to stretch, it was pouring. I figured what the heck, it probably wouldn't last long, and headed west for a 7 mile out and back, in the direction of the trailing edge, hoping it would stop raining after a couple of miles.

It was still raining when I got back to the car, after a nice easy 7 miles. I have done a good job of starting out slow on these long runs this cycle, and did this time as well. I made one stop about half way to get the cinders out of my shoe - when its wet they tend to cling to the heel of my shoe long enough that they get tossed off and up and manage to get in between my sock and the inside of my shoe, and rub their sharp little edges and hurt. So I cleaned that up several times along the way today, and it cost me a couple of minutes each time. I also stopped to do this when I was back at the car at 7 miles. "All in" I was averaging about 10:00 min. miles, which was just right.

It kept raining, and I grabbed a water bottle and headed west. I decided to push the limits of hydration a little (I figured it was the perfect day for that!), and do another 6 mile out and back, with just the water bottle I'd snagged at the car to get me by. It ended up that really was pushing it, but it worked out OK. This loop of the trail handles water less well, and it was soaked. It was ponding a lot, and I would try to run around it, but it would cover the whole trail in an inch or two of water, and I'd have to run into the brush to get around it, and that has its own whole set of issues (poison ivy, unseen depressions in the ground, mud, etc.). Ultimately, I'd gotten wet enough that my shoes and socks were completely soaked anyway, so said to heck with it, and I'd just pound through the puddles. Later in this loop, there are actually small streams to dodge when it rains hard, and I slogged through many of these as well. I figured I was carrying a few extra pounds of water between my hat, shirt, shorts, socks and shoes, all of which were dripping wet with rain and puddle water. Also, when the rain would let up a little bit, the flying insects would feel more comfortable gathering around my head and neck, so I actually started to favor the periods of heavy rain.

I got back to the car at 13, did the thing with my shoes again, grabbed some more water, walked around drinking it and then took another bottle to head out with (whole episode cost about 2 minutes), for the final 3 mile loop (back out the way I started, just not as far). At some point the rain stopped (or at least nearly stopped) for a few miles. But then it picked up again! I ran the last couple of miles faster - about 9:30 and 9:10, and felt real good, but tired. And wet!

When I stopped at the end to stretch at the car, it poured on me!

I think I get extra credit for this run!!

Now its just really muggy and warm, as predicted. I'm glad I chose to run in the rain today.

All in, I averaged just a fraction under 10:00 per. In those conditions ,that's pretty good.

And with the vacation mileage, that puts me at 8 + 10 + 8 + 16 = 42 miles for the week, which is pushing it at this point, but I had a real low mileage week last week, so things seem to have worked out.

The PF is mildly annoying right now, but not barking at me, so that's OK too.

Only thing that ticked me off today is that my waterproof seat cover is no longer waterproof. I suspected this two weeks ago when I used it, but confirmed it today. Must be the laundering and putting it in the dryer. I need something better! I don't want to go back to beach towels...

That's the definition of a not fun run Michael, and yes, you deserve extra credit.
Nothing works as well as beach towels, don't bother fighting it.
It looks like you PF is exactly where mine is. Kind of lingering, almost like background noise, every now and then a bit more than that.

Seth Harrison wrote:That's the definition of a not fun run Michael, and yes, you deserve extra credit.
Nothing works as well as beach towels, don't bother fighting it.
It looks like you PF is exactly where mine is. Kind of lingering, almost like background noise, every now and then a bit more than that.

Thanks Seth.

Only problem with the beach towels is keeping them on the top of the seat back - I suppose I just need to use longer towels!

Yes, the PF is about as you describe it, with an occasional flare up of worse symptoms. I think I'm managing it pretty well at this point. I took a lot of comfort out of running four times this past week - its the first time I've done that in a few months.

Felt like running some hills this morning. Not sure why. It was awfully humid (dewpoint in the low 70s?) for that. Part of it was I wanted to go longer than about six miles, and where I live, pretty much any way you slice it, if I want to go that long and not run more than a few hundred yards on the state highway, I'm stuck on some real hills. So I guess I was just embracing the fact that I didn't have much choice!



Elevation chart below. This was a good reminder, after my nice flat runs last week while on vacation, how much the hills make a difference.



In the first 2.4 miles, I went up about 390 feet. Good warm up!



The real killers, though, were at around the 7 mile and the 8 mile marks. By this time I was completely soaked and feeling tired. I had to remind myself when I went up the hills that I should just slow down for them (not much choice at that point in the run!).



At about the 7 mile mark, I went up about 220 feet in .7 miles. I think that was the toughest one this morning. That felt hard. And then, just to finish things off, around the 8 mile mark I went up about 100 feet in about .2 miles. I was glad it was downhill from there!



In all, 8.5 miles at about 9:18 per mile average.



I'm glad its over, but it was a good run.

Michael Enright wrote:
...So I ate, drank coffee, read the paper, drank a bunch of water, did the jumble ...

Ha ha! I mean this as a compliment but you are the only other person in the world I've ever known to do the Jumble along with my Dad. I associate that crazy old school cartoon and game with him completely.

Chris - that's especially funny because when I do the jumble and the crossword, my kids all rail on me about how much I'm becoming like my Dad (who has done a couple of crossword puzzles, any acrostic he can find, and the jumble every day for as long as I can remember - even when he had his hands full with a busy practice and 9 kids!).



I love the jumble!

That was a hard one.



Trying

Divert

Seaman

Deceit

Shadow

Heckle



Vested Interest

It was cooler and much less humid this morning. Nice!



I headed out for an easy six miler. Still pretty hilly, but not anything near as hilly as yesterday's terrain.



I felt sore in my quads on the uphill warmup (which I ran at a pretty typical pace for that mile - just under 10:00) - a result of yesterday's run. But the really good news was that I was running two days in a row and I wasn't focused on my PF!!! Something else felt sore and tired instead! Never thought that would make me happy, but it did.



Pretty typical six - ended up averaging 9:07, with the pace varying after the first mile mostly by uphill/downhill, ranging between about 8:45 and a little over 9:00. Easy.



Heel feels ok.



I had to change my schedule this week (and eliminated the midweek bike day) because another large branch fell and hit the side of the house on Monday night. The power company wouldn't clamp that to the house (so my electrician can come out and reattach it correctly - that part is on my nickel) until I cleared some of the tree away so they could get in there close. So I got up at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and sawed that and cleared it. That interfered with my running schedule, eliminating a morning, etc. But they still haven't clamped the line to the house - glad I was out there at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday!



At least I have power...

Souse

Anise

Typhus

Uproar



Stop the Presses

Chris: When I was in my final year of college (so many years ago!), I lived in a house with 8 or 9 other guys (no, I haven't lost count, it was just that the number varied by semester and year).



Some of us got into the jumble to the point that we actually created a couple of our own that were specific to what went on in the house. The jumbled words were relevant, and the cartoon and final punchline all had to relate to various imbibing and other illicit activities. Yes, we were geeks, but we loved to party! Anyway, on the last one I did, I was lucky I did not get punched out by one of my roommates, as it graphically referred to his loud activities with his girlfriend.



I'd do one specific to the forums, but I think I'd be the only one interested in solving it!

Awesome story! I'm going to see my Dad tonight and tell him I found that there really is another person in the world who does the Jumble. By the way, "souse".....nice one. I was struggling on that one.

OK, that's hilarious. And those were hard! What the hell kind of made up word is typhus?

I think a 365runners jumble would be interesting. Give it a shot!

Chris M wrote:Awesome story! I'm going to see my Dad tonight and tell him I found that there really is another person in the world who does the Jumble. By the way, "souse".....nice one. I was struggling on that one.

Actually, "souse" would have fit right in on one of those college jumbles I was talking about!!!

Hi Mike,... running & biking is certainly a good combo.

Dave P wrote:Hi Mike,... running & biking is certainly a good combo.

Thanks Dave. So far, so good. Inevitably, the biking will tail off as the summer wraps - except for weekend riding. I suppose I could get a stationary bike or set up a trainer, but I really don't have room for another piece of equipment. On the other hand, maybe I could set it up in the barn!

I'm late to this conversation, but feel like I need to jump in and defend here. I do the crossword and the jumble every day - I think its good mental training. And I got into the habit from my mom, not my dad.

Ken Mello wrote:I'm late to this conversation, but feel like I need to jump in and defend here. I do the crossword and the jumble every day - I think its good mental training. And I got into the habit from my mom, not my dad.

Thanks for the support Ken! I just do it because I find it addictive...

How did I miss the progression of this blog into Jumble? I've recently started getting into it - sans pen, just in my head - but generally have 1 that I can't get so I find a website to unscramble it for me And I've never seen one with 6 jumbles before. Only 4. Crazy.

Mike MacLellan wrote:How did I miss the progression of this blog into Jumble? I've recently started getting into it - sans pen, just in my head - but generally have 1 that I can't get so I find a website to unscramble it for me And I've never seen one with 6 jumbles before. Only 4. Crazy.

Often there will be one (sometimes two) that I can't do in my head. If so, I either let it be for awhile, and it often comes to me while I'm doing something else (funny how the mind works, and I guess how little attention I must be paying to what I think I'm doing), or else I will eventually write down the letters in a different random order, and that will help me see it. Or, I'll try to solve the "riddle" or whatever you call it, figure out what letters I don't "have" already, and try plugging them into the places where they have to go for the word to work.

Things seem a little slow this afternoon (the rest of the world seems to be on vacation or golfing), so I needed something to do, so I signed up for a few things:



Labor Day - New Haven Road Race (20K - hey, its the national championship race - maybe I'll win!)



Sept. 25 - Niantic Bay Half Marathon



Oct. 30 - Cape Cod Marathon



Usually, signing up for a race is the precursor to a disabling injury, so having signed up for three, I ought to confirm that my insurance is up to date.

A 20k, a HM, and a full marathon in a bit less than two months...it's a good thing your day wasn't any slower, who knows what trouble you have found for yourself. Actually, the first two seem like perfect mid-cycle races.
Here's to not getting hurt (for both of us)!

Seth Harrison wrote:A 20k, a HM, and a full marathon in a bit less than two months...it's a good thing your day wasn't any slower, who knows what trouble you have found for yourself. Actually, the first two seem like perfect mid-cycle races.
Here's to not getting hurt (for both of us)!

Well put!

I've run the 20K and the HM before, and both are nice races. Since I'm not running the marathon until the very end of October, the dates for the 20K and the HM work a lot better for me than they usually do (because I typically run a mid-Oct. marathon).

I got to tinkering with my training schedule and realized that about the timing, which is what got me interested in signing up for them. Once I did that, I went ahead and figured I'd sign up for the marathon, which at this point I'd been keeping flexible. Time to commit!

I am hoping to make the switch to four days a week of running (with a biking day on the weekend) next week. As I was planning that out, I realized that I will pretty much be running Hal's Novice 2 schedule from here on out, if all things go as planned, albeit with a couple of extra of the peak weeks at the end of the schedule.

Sounds OK.